Garrigus' greatest power on course extends beyond mammoth tee shots

U.S. OPEN AT OLYMPIC CLUB

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, June 3, 2012

Photo: David Cannon, Getty Images

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 10: Robert Garrigus of the USA plays his tee shot on the par 4, 5th hole during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship held at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 10, 2012 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images) less

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 10: Robert Garrigus of the USA plays his tee shot on the par 4, 5th hole during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship held at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May ... more

Photo: David Cannon, Getty Images

Garrigus' greatest power on course extends beyond mammoth tee shots

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The scene on the practice range before last month's PGA Tour event in Charlotte, N.C., spoke to Robert Garrigus' spot in the golf world. He smacked shot after towering shot into a faraway galaxy, stirring wide-eyed wonder among those watching.

Garrigus made it look so easy, so effortless. He paused between swings to chat with Tiger Woods, hitting balls on an adjacent patch of grass. Garrigus smiled and chuckled at one point, clearly enjoying the moment.

His life wasn't always this good.

Garrigus counts as one of the most compelling, under-the-radar stories entering next week's U.S. Open at the Olympic Club. His journey to San Francisco included a long detour through drug and alcohol addiction - an eight-year stretch in which he spent more time smoking marijuana than hitting towering shots on the range.

Now, as Garrigus crisscrosses the country playing on the PGA Tour, reminders of his previous path lurk nearby. Spectators routinely approach him to share their stories of fighting drug or alcohol addiction, and he willingly engages them in conversation.

Even a couple of pro baseball and football players, after meeting Garrigus in pro-am events, acknowledged their own addiction.

"A lot of people come up to me," Garrigus said that day in Charlotte. "It's nice to hear the stories of people saying they've been sober for 10 or 15 years, because then you know it can be done."

Habitual problem

Garrigus wasn't especially interested in getting sober from 1995, when he enrolled at Scottsdale Community College, until the moment in 2003 when he finally recognized the scope of his problem. His life in Arizona during those years was "all golf and partying," as he once described it.

He didn't use hard drugs, but his smoking and drinking spun wildly out of control.

"The smoking got to be habitual - five, 10, maybe 20 times a day," Garrigus told Golf Digest in July 2011. "I constantly needed to be high, and I took it to the max every single day. Mostly just smoking, smoking, smoking."

Garrigus created a stir with his candid comments to the magazine, because he also said he and other Nationwide Tour players smoked marijuana during tournament rounds in 2002. These were not exactly revelations the image-conscious PGA Tour wanted to hear.

In many ways, though, Garrigus needed to hit rock bottom before he could jump-start his career. His epiphany occurred in April 2003, after another long night out. He was sitting on his couch in Scottsdale about 4 a.m., watching television, when he saw an infomercial for Calvary Ranch, a spiritually based drug and alcohol recovery facility near San Diego.

A few hours later, he packed his belongings into his car and drove straight to Calvary Ranch. Garrigus spent 45 days there combining treatment and prayer - and emerged a changed man, to hear him tell it.

"After that, I haven't touched (marijuana) and haven't thought about it," he said last month. "It's not part of my life anymore."

Garrigus grew up in Oregon, first in Banks (a small town outside Portland) and later in Corvallis, where he attended high school. He always was a terrific athlete - he threw harder than other kids on his baseball team and ran faster than those on his soccer team - but he hit speed bumps away from sports.

David Crowell, a good friend since childhood and a high-school golf teammate, recalled Garrigus hanging with the wrong crowd. He also struggled academically, so the importance of carving out a career on the course was clear.

"He always knew if he didn't make it in golf, he'd be in a lot of trouble," Crowell said. "For him, it was golf or nothing. ... His life was really at a dead-end road (when he went into rehab). He showed you can come through it."

Garrigus had mostly bounced around mini-tours before his stint in rehab, but he soon pumped life into his career. He showed signs of progress on the Nationwide Tour in 2004 and '05, then made it through PGA Tour Qualifying School in December '05.

He's been on the big tour ever since, simultaneously distancing himself from his previous life and embracing it.

"I tell my story to help other people," Garrigus said. "If I can help one person, then it's successful."

Big-time power hitter

Many players hit the ball far. Garrigus hits the ball crazy far.

He led the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2009 and '10, and he ranks second this year behind Bubba Watson (at 309.1 yards per measured drive). Garrigus has finished in the top five in driving distance every year since he joined the tour in 2006.

The power traces to genetics, in his mind - his mom was an athlete and his dad won the silver medal in trap shooting at the 1968 Olympics. Garrigus isn't physically imposing (5-11, 190), but he's always had "stringy muscles and powerful legs," enabling him to generate swing speed.

One example: On the first hole of the Transitions Championship playoff outside Tampa in March, he crushed his drive 335 yards - dead straight, uphill, into the wind. The next week, at Bay Hill, Woods found Garrigus and said, "That tee shot in the playoff was unreal!"

Needless to say, Garrigus savored the compliment.

"He just loves it when people say, 'Wow!' " Crowell said. "In high school, it didn't matter if the hole called for 5-iron off the tee - he'd hit driver every time because he wanted people to say, 'Wow!' He enjoys the attention."

The attention didn't yield any victories in his first four seasons on tour. Garrigus' putting and wedge games held him back, to the point he once told swing coach Jim Ahern he'd rather be 150 yards from the hole than 80 to 100 yards.

That was in October 2010, when Ahern began working with Garrigus and four months after he blew a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole of the St. Jude Classic. Ahern helped fix some flaws in his short-iron swing, and Garrigus picked up his first PGA Tour win a month later.

But his biggest breakthrough might have come in last year's U.S. Open. His tie for third earned him a spot in the British Open and PGA Championship (in 2011) and this year's Masters and U.S. Open.

"I've hit it so good out here for so many years," Garrigus said. "To finally get a good major, and win a tournament the year before, served as a springboard for what I'm doing now. ... I'm kind of coming into my own."

Garrigus still can be erratic - he missed the cut at the Masters and Players Championship, but he also gave himself chances to win in Maui and Tampa. And he walked the emerald fairways of Augusta National for the first time.

When they were kids, Garrigus and Crowell made a pact: If either played in the Masters, the other would caddie in the Par-3 Contest. The dream came true in April, when Crowell wore the white overalls and carried his friend's bag - well aware of the treacherous road Garrigus traveled.

"My past makes everything I do more gratifying," he said, "and it also makes everything I do now look like nothing."

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Robert Garrigus

Age: 34 Height: 5-11 Weight: 190

PGA Tour win: Children's Miracle Network Classic, November 2010

Major moment: Tied for 3rd in last year's U.S. Open

This year: Garrigus ranks 30th on the money list. He has two runner-up finishes, including a playoff loss outside Tampa (where Luke Donald won).

Memorable collapse: Took a three-shot lead to the 72nd hole of the tour event in Memphis in June 2010. He hit his tee shot into the water, made triple bogey and lost in a playoff to Lee Westwood.

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